The Telegraph figured out how unlimited tariffs associated with the "Yarovaya law".
Megafon closed the Megabenzlim option, on refusal unlimited internet Beeline also said. Even the possible prospect of subscribers moving to competitors does not stop mobile operators. The Telegraph found out what made them take such a step.
Mobile operator Megafon was the first to refuse unlimited internet. First, the operator renamed the Megabeslim option, actively advertised in the summer of 2016, to Unlimited Internet. Clients could not find a new tariff on the site, because a search for the old name gave an error 404, and from February 1 Megafon put it into archive mode, which excludes its connection for new users. Megafon's support service explains that the option was closed by low demand due to the small number of new connections. “It’s not surprising, because subscribers, who for six months got used to the name“ Megabeslim ”, searched for an option by this keyword and ended up on a page on which there was nothing,” users write in social networks... To which the mobile operator issues the wording “in many regions this tariff plan was a non-public offer. "
\u003d\u003e insignificant number of new connections, which on the scale of a federal operator essentially means a complete lack of interest @saldim
- MegaFon (@megafonru) 4 February 2017
Since February 10, VimpelCom has replaced unlimited traffic with limited packages. Telecom operator "Beeline" also stopped connecting subscribers from a number of regions to postpaid packages. So far, the changes concern only new subscribers of the mobile operator. For them, Internet traffic packages of 10, 14, 20 and 30 gigabytes are available, which contain 10% more minutes of voice calls and SMS, as well as twice as much traffic. Moreover, these packages are one of the most expensive in the operator's line. The head of VimpelCom, Shell Morten Johnsen, announced the changes in tariffs back in December 2016. “We are moving towards pricing based on the growth of mobile traffic. The market should move towards practically free voice and SMS services and several tariff options for mobile Internet... It is completely irrational that someone can download 60-70 GB, load the network, while using cheap unlimited or almost unlimited tariffs. This is a question for the entire industry to resolve, ”said VimpelCom CEO Shelle Morten Johnsen in an interview with RBC.
The rest of the operators have not yet announced the rejection of unlimited. Another operator of the “big three” - MTS - did not make a final decision. “MTS will analyze the consumption profile of its subscribers in order to offer them optimal rates", - said the press service of the mobile operator. Tele2 is also monitoring the situation. “So far Tele2 does not plan to give up unlimited access to mobile Internet and does not intend to reduce the limits on existing tariffs. This is a great opportunity for us to attract new subscribers and demonstrate high quality of the constructed network, ”the press service of the cellular network told Telegraph.
Experts associate changes in tariffs with the “Yarovaya law”.The new norms are not only compared with Orwell's "big brother", but also express fears of a possible leak of information, and an increase in the cost of services is also called among the likely consequences. cellular operators... “Refusal from unlimited Internet and change of tariffs are most likely economically justified and may be associated with changes in legislation. "Yarovaya Law" requires large investments. We need new equipment, update of all systems, "Sergei Zhitinsky, general director of the IT company Git in Sky, told Telegraph.
Operator costs cellular communication for the implementation of the new requirements will amount to about 4 trillion rubles. Moreover, most of the equipment and software must be purchased abroad. “In the third year since the adoption of the proposed requirements, the total amount of information on the content of communication services to be stored by Russian communication operators will be about 157.5 exabytes, which is approximately 100 thousand times more than the volume of information on the facts of rendering the same communication services”, - according to the research of JSC "GIPROSVYAZ".
After increasing tariffs, mobile operators will not increase, but will lower the quality of services. « Mobile operators reorient their investment strategy from developing network infrastructure to purchasing storage infrastructure. This, in turn, will lead to the fact that the operators mobile communication Russia will have to slow down its development towards new generation mobile networks: LTE-Advanced Pro, 5G and further 6G, while foreign operators will implement these projects at a faster pace. What will affect the quality of services provided to subscribers ", - said to" Telegraph "associate professor of St. M. A. Bonch-Bruevich, head of the portal 1234G.ru Anton Steputin.
The State Duma adopted a package of anti-terrorist laws, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed it in the summer of 2016. The legislative changes proposed by Irina Yarovaya, together with Senator Viktor Ozerov, involve measures such as: increasing the term for a number of criminal articles, increasing the storage period for information and messages by mobile operators (from six months to three years), and introducing the concept of an "act of international terrorism" and criminal liability for failure to report.
The expert council under the Russian government has estimated the cost of the law at 2.2 trillion rubles. More than 100,000 people signed up to a petition demanding the repeal of this law. In October 2016, the Anti-Corruption Foundation filed a lawsuit against the open government demanding not to delay the consideration of the petition. In January, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications recommended to the government and law enforcement agencies to adjust the "Yarovaya law", in particular, to reduce the volume of traffic that telecom operators are required to store for six months. Internet videos, IP-TV and torrents can be removed from the law, which will reduce the volume of traffic to be stored tenfold. This should reduce the costs of operators for the implementation of the law to 100 billion rubles.
Aldona Degtyareva
In recent days, information about the cancellation of unlimited tariffs for mobile Internet has been actively disseminated on the Internet. At the same time, the communication services themselves may rise in price due to the fall in the profitability of the mobile business, according to “informed sources”. The team of the Internet project "Be Mobile" decided to investigate the situation and asked for clarification from Russian telecom operators.
How did it all start?
id \u003d "sub0"\u003eAt the end of January, virtual operator Yota announced the rejection of completely unlimited Internet traffic on its tariffs for smartphones. And in early February, MegaFon, which, by the way, owns Yota, announced similar changes.
Telecom and financial market analysts added fuel to the fire through the media. They stated that the trend to abolish unlimited tariffs for mobile Internet in Russia will gain momentum. Experts predict the complete disappearance of unlimited by the end of 2017.
What will happen to the mobile Internet?
id \u003d "sub1"\u003eThe Internet project "Be Mobile" asked the largest Russian telecom operators for clarification. Representatives of Yota and MegaFon confirmed the cancellation of unlimited tariffs and options for subscribers who use smartphones. At the same time, they assured that all previously connected unlimited unlimited services will continue to be served without any restrictions and innovations.
“We have made the product line for smartphones simpler and clearer - new clients of the company will be able to buy a package of minutes and traffic at reduced prices, as well as include a new option“ Unlimited mobile applications". Thanks to this option, customers do not have to think about how many megabytes are spent on chatting with friends or watching videos on social networks, ”says yota CEO Vladimir Dobrynin.
At the same time, the company notes that the current Yota tariffs for unlimited Internet for modems and routers have remained the same. The price here depends on the selected speed of data reception and transmission.
MegaFon said that since February, the Unlimited Internet option has been closed for new connections due to low demand.
“Over the past month, we have seen an extremely insignificant number of new connections, which, on the scale of the federal operator, essentially means a complete lack of interest in it. Those clients who needed this option have already connected it. The vast majority of customers are satisfied with the traffic volumes included in the package. In most cases large volume traffic is needed to watch TV, movies and series online. Such clients actively use MegaFon TV, since this service is free for holders of package tariffs, and traffic is not charged, "- details the information Svetlana Emelyanova, press secretary of the Ural branch of MegaFon.
Unlimited Internet is closed only for new connections, MegaFon emphasizes. For all subscribers who have activated the option before February 1, the option will operate on the same terms. At the same time, the options that allow you to use the mobile Internet while traveling in Russia operate on the same terms.
Beeline said that by now, unlimited has become a marketing tool to attract attention to offers. “In 2016, we did a temporary promotion with date-unlimited on postpaid tariffs, from which we left on January 31, 2017 as planned,” says vimpelCom representative Inna Rybina.- However, in fact, the real consumption at unlimited for the overwhelming majority of customers is actually the same as at tariffs with included data traffic packages. In the current situation, they are more constraining the further development of the market: the consumption of the date in the total volume is growing, while both active users and those who use the date pay little the same - and this is on the general trend of reducing voice consumption and the need for operators to invest in infrastructure that can maintain the growing volume of the date. Therefore, in our opinion, in the future the market will inevitably come to a change in the pricing model: from the cost of a minute to the cost of a data unit. This will provide an opportunity to differentiate offers for customers, taking into account their changing consumption profile ”.
MTS declined to give an exact answer as to whether they would cancel unlimited mobile Internet, noting: “We will analyze the consumption profile of our subscribers in order to offer them optimal tariffs. Our key task is to provide all subscribers with comfortable and convenient services. In order to achieve this, we regularly analyze the consumption profile of our customers. As a result, at the moment we have formed a wide range of package tariffs that meet the needs of subscribers - including large packages of Internet traffic, SMS and minutes. And we see that such proposals find a high response from our clients, as they allow them to plan their expenses and understand the final cost of communication services. "
The press service of the operator Tele2 said that they do not plan to abandon the services and tariffs of unlimited mobile Internet and do not intend to reduce the limits on existing offers. “We also do not plan to cancel the tariffication of mobile Internet in national roaming at the prices of the home region,” the company said.
The fifth largest mobile operator MOTIV is also not going to cancel the unlimited tariffication of Internet traffic.
"Change conditions current tariffs or we do not plan to close them for new connections yet. But we are planning to implement several new tariffs. We are sure that our subscribers will like them, ”notes marketing and Sales Director of the MOTIV company Ekaterina Hvorostova.
It should be noted that unlimited mobile internet access offers a huge number of new opportunities for owners mobile devices... So, there are often cases when the owners of USB-modems and Wi-Fi routers to provide an internal network at home or in the office. Smartphone owners also actively use their gadgets to share the Internet to other devices via Wi-Fi. However, at the same time, operators are faced with a serious increase in traffic volumes. The existing networks are significantly loaded.
Operators have two choices to address loading issues. The simplest and cheapest is to limit traffic growth or make it more expensive for those who download and send a lot of data. More complex and expensive - expanding channels, increasing the number of points of attachment to the global network, caching frequently used site data.
The first unlimited tariffs for mobile Internet in Russia appeared with Yota, but this operator was considered a niche operator, it did not have so many subscribers, and it had little influence on the market. In March 2016, Anlim launched Beeline, in May of the same year, unlimited Internet appeared at MTS, in June MegaFon succumbed to the trend, and in November - Tele2.
Photo: Ekaterina Kuzmina / RBC
Since March 27, MTS has closed the Unlimited tariff plan with unlimited Internet access for connecting new subscribers. This was reported to RBC by a representative of the cellular operator Dmitry Solodovnikov. From April 13, MTS will close the connection to the rest of the federal tariffs with unlimited Internet. However, such tariffs may remain in a number of regions "for some time", for example, the Moscow tariff "Transformische", noted Solodovnikov.
Existing subscribers of the listed tariff plans will be able to continue using the services on the same terms, he said. According to the MTS representative, instead of Unlimited, subscribers will have access to the updated Smart Unlimited tariff. It includes unlimited calls to MTS numbers and 350 minutes of calls to numbers of other operators, 10 GB of Internet traffic and 350 SMS. At the same time, the services included in the package, but not used during the month, can be transferred to the next month. This tariff will be "de facto unlimited" for the majority of users, Solodovnikov said. At the same time, subscribers will be able to purchase options with additional Internet traffic.
The cost of "Smart Unlimited" is lower compared to its predecessor: 550 rubles. monthly against 570-589 rubles. earlier (the final price depended on the number of days in a month, since the tariff was paid daily). According to a spokesman for the operator, they expect a "more affordable" offer to increase contract sales amid a reduction in branded stores. For the first quarter of this year, MTS, the owner of the largest cellular retail in Russia, 500 stores, and by the end of 2017 may close several hundred more outlets.
Dmitry Solodovnikov insists that they refuse from unlimited internet due to the low volume of traffic consumption. Thus, according to the company, the majority of regular Internet users download less than 5-6 GB of data per month. “Taking into account the summing up of Internet traffic quotas, the new tariff will satisfy the needs of the majority of Internet users,” Solodovnikov believes.
At the beginning of the year, from tariffs with unlimited Internet "Scartel" ("daughter" of "MegaFon", provides services under the Yota brand). If earlier a subscriber of the capital region could for 490-1890 rubles. get unlimited internet per month and 300-3000 minutes of calls to any networks, now at the cheapest package tariff for 400 rubles. a subscriber has access to 300 minutes of calls and 5 GB of Internet traffic per month, and on the most expensive (2.5 thousand rubles) - 5 thousand minutes of calls and 30 GB of mobile Internet.
In February, Vedomosti, citing analysts, reported that MTS management plans to raise prices for tariffs with unlimited Internet access, or completely abandon them this year.
VimpelCom CEO Mikhail Slobodin called on mobile market participants to abandon unlimited tariffs and raise prices for mobile Internet, which he sees as the only source of profit. His opinion was published in the Kommersant newspaper.
“He sees one source of market growth - mobile internet. However, its cost is now very low, Mr. Slobodin is sure. For the market to grow, unlimited tariffs should completely disappear from the operators' offerings; such subscribers often do not need either voice services or additional services, he believes, "says the article of Kommersant.
Due to the increased competition in the Russian market of cellular operators, the annual reports on the revenue of VimpelCom, which provides services under the Beeline brand, are disappointing compared to previous years, Kommersant writes.
“According to the results of the IV quarter of last year, Vimpelcom's revenue decreased by 3% compared to the same period in 2014, to 71.75 billion rubles, and for the entire 2015 - by 1%, to 278.4 billion rubles, follows from the operator's statements published yesterday, ”the newspaper reports.
Also, due to increased competition and a forced decline in prices for services, negative indicators will increase every quarter, says Slobodin. Therefore, he sees the only way out in the mobile Internet, which has become much more popular than cellular communications. However, according to Slobodin, its cost is now very low.
Neither Beeline nor other companies of the Big Four have unlimited mobile Internet. Nevertheless, operators provide service packages that include Internet with limited traffic.
For example, VimpelCom has a tariff plan “Everything for 1800” - for such an amount in rubles, the monthly set of services includes 30 GB of traffic. MTS has a large volume of traffic included in the Smart Nonstop tariff (unlimited Internet at night, as well as 10 GB during the day for 500 rubles per month). In MegaFon's All Inclusive VIP tariff for 2,700 rubles, the subscriber, among other things, receives 10 GB of 3G and 4G Internet traffic. With such prices, it is quite difficult for companies to stay on the market, agrees with Slobodin, MTS representative Dmitry Solodovnikov.
“Mobile Internet revenue cannot grow indefinitely; this, in particular, is due to the constant increase in the availability of traffic packets, ”he notes.
However, the head of the MegaFon press service, Yulia Dorokhina, does not entirely agree with the representatives of VimpelCom and MTS. In her opinion, prices should not be increased, you just need to wait until people gradually switch to smartphones. Thus, the number of customers will increase, as will the revenue from tariffs.
“In the future, such areas as m2m, telemedicine, mobile commerce and others will become drivers. They will increase the number of mobile Internet users by orders of magnitude, ”says Dorokhina.
There is the only company on the Russian market that provides unlimited Internet. Kommersant asked the representatives of Yota how they see a way out of the situation.
"A mobile operator with a growing client base and high-quality technological infrastructure can expand its portfolio of services and offer clients in addition, for example, financial services," the company said.
The largest mobile operators in Russia are four: MTS, MegaFon, Beeline and Tele2. They have the largest number of subscribers among the rest.
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The Federal Antimonopoly Service decided to look for logic in the actions of cellular operators, which almost simultaneously abandoned tariffs and options with unlimited Internet. The logic in their actions is not difficult to find. Will FAS find evidence of collusion?
The reason for the interest of anti-monopolists in tariffs for the mobile Internet was user complaints. Unlimited traffic for smartphones and tablets is a luxury unprecedented in the whole world, and Russians were able to use this luxury for a little less than a year. A person quickly gets used to good things, and therefore the abolition of unlimited at the same time raises questions and suspicions among all operators.
New Yota subscribers were the first to face traffic restrictions. Since January 2017, only old customers of this operator can use unlimited Internet. In February, Beeline (VimpelCom) and Megafon introduced the same restrictions, in March MTS joined them, and in April, unlimited disappeared from Tele2. Why did the cellular companies cancel the services, in which advertising huge money was invested? They themselves tried to explain this by caring about subscribers.
Confusion in readings
Operators make incredible claims: users themselves want to pay for gigabytes and therefore ignore options and tariffs with unlimited traffic. Megafon said in February that the Megabenzlimit option was connected “a small number of times”, and accordingly, it was deemed unnecessary and moved to the archive. True, if you believe the subscribers, the operator did everything to hide it from the public: the Megabeslim option was renamed to Unlimited Internet, its previous description disappeared from the operator's website.
In MTS, in turn, they say that most users download no more than 5-6 GB per month through the cellular network, so it makes no sense to save unlimited. Official representative of MTS Dmitry Solodovnikov said that subscribers who used it earlier will retain unlimited traffic, new customers will be offered to buy gigabyte packages from mid-April.
The operators' words contradict the numbers: in 2016, mobile Internet traffic in Russia grew by almost one and a half times, almost 3.8 billion GB were downloaded via 3G and 4G networks. This is about seven times less than in fixed networks, but the growth rate of the mobile segment is rapid. The position of telecom operators is explained by another figure: revenues from mobile Internet are growing much more modestly, last year they increased by only 12%. Voice revenue is on the decline - more and more people are calling for free via Whatsapp, Skype and Viber.
Another explanation
Another version looks more plausible. According to the CEO of Tele2 Sergey Emdin, in 2016, in the market as a whole, unlimited tariffs accounted for only 25% of sales, but subscribers with such tariffs provided 50% of the network load. That is, a relatively small percentage of "unlimited users" can reduce the quality of communication services for other subscribers. But even this argument against unlimited traffic looks unconvincing, because old subscribers with such tariffs will not go anywhere. The operator can regulate the load on the network - reduce the download speed after the subscriber uses up a certain amount of traffic per hour or per day.
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Operators announced the so-called "Yarovaya package" as another reason for rejecting tariffs with unlimited Internet. Amendments to the anti-terrorist legislation adopted last year oblige to store all user traffic on their servers. Allegedly, a large amount of data, the formation of which could have contributed to unlimited, will create a significant load on the equipment. But here it is pertinent to recall that cable Internet providers, which pass a significant portion of Russian traffic through themselves, face the same problem, but they do not cancel unlimited tariffs.
"Fought and dispersed"
In 2016, shortly before the appearance of tariffs without traffic restrictions in Russia, the CEO of VimpelCom Mikhail Slobodin warned operators against this step. According to him, the cellular communications market will be able to grow only by increasing the cost of the mobile Internet. Cheap traffic packages harm the industry, and unlimited tariffs will set the maximum bar for the operator's income.
Nevertheless, already next month VimpelCom introduced a tariff with unlimited Internet, in May MTS also entered, in June Megafon joined them. Some experts believe that in this way the representatives of the “big three” reacted to increased competition from Tele2. By joining forces with Rostelecom, this company has decided to become the third largest subscriber base in Russia by 2018. In 2016 1.7 million people connected to Tele2, and total number her contracts approached 40 million.
Probably, each of the representatives of the “Big Three” perceived unlimited as an effective marketing tool for attracting and retaining subscribers. When unlimited traffic appeared for everyone, it began to interfere with the development of the market as a whole, but none of the operators would dare to unilaterally cancel unlimited traffic. All this allows the FAS to suspect the operators of collusion, but will it be possible to prove it as a fact? Now the department is studying the information provided by the cellular companies about the heavy load on the network, only after that it will make a decision on initiating or not initiating a case on violation of antimonopoly legislation.
In 2016, unlimited mobile Internet made Russia one of the most progressive countries, creating good opportunities for the development of the digital economy, the Internet of Things, telemedicine and online education. The development of such services could become a new source of revenue for cellular operators, but it is obvious that for now they prefer to make money by selling traffic packages to subscribers.